My story for others to learn from... - Page 2

GT-Pete · 30-08-2011, 04:26 PM

Thanks for sharing blk6t... 150 is not hard to do at all (even in a NA Bseries XR6). Who on this forum can say they have never done those speeds on a freeway somewhere late at night?

PS, where were you booked?

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTP owner

I don't think you are an idiot - you just made the same kind of mistake most of us make when we are young and full of testosterone.

It does illustrate a point though - and that is: Why did you stop? Given the punishment is so harsh, i could understand why someone would do a runner. Now, don't take that i am advocating doing a runner, but I think that the harsher the punishment is, the more extreme the measures people will take to avoid being stopped.
The next part of that problem therefore becomes : How do you stop people doing a runner? Does a harsher penalty actually work? I know that they have just increased the penalty for failing to stop, but does this actually encourage someone to try even harder to get away?

So I think your post is great, and raises some interesting points. Namely that you learnt your lesson, and have come to appreciate the damage caused by crashes in cars. I just wish we could get the same message out about suicide, (which take double the number of lives per year that MVAs do)

As said above, look up Skye's law

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheInterceptor

Yeh im goin agaisnt the grain.
If mr copper wasnt there, you would have pulled back in and slowed back down. Life goes on.

To me its very much an overeaction and ties in with the same old mantra which is a total toss.

Yes people are going to disagree, call me an idiot and whatnot but i dont care, im not a do gooder and i know my limits and my vehicles limits, im not sucked into this speeding garbage.....unlucky that you were caught, very unlucky...

And how can i reserve speed for the track when i drive what i drive? Slower than anything else on the track and higher center of gravity....yeh good thanks.

Least you learnt something...Happy trails.

This

duaned · 30-08-2011, 06:34 PM

sprint347dave · 30-08-2011, 09:44 PM

thanks for telling us your story,,but while you still have "FG GT...Supercharged Bliss" im still sencing that you will speed again,,maybe adding some of the pictures that you viewed might help even more with getting people to think twice before they do 155 on a road we all share

**DJM83** · 30-08-2011, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sprint347dave

thanks for telling us your story,,but while you still have "FG GT...Supercharged Bliss" im still sencing that you will speed again,,maybe adding some of the pictures that you viewed might help even more with getting people to think twice before they do 155 on a road we all share

Yeah because you have never broken the road rules.

Yeah OP was silly to speed thats a given. But how many here, hand on heart can say they have never broken a road rule now im not promoting people to sit here and type up all the times they have broken the law.
In my case i had no one to blame but myself, i was young and dumb and thought i was invincible. Lucky for me i was caught as who knows what might have happened.

In no way do i promote speeding, nor am i an angel on the roads.

JC · 30-08-2011, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craiginmackay

Yep. I agree.
Another interesting point it raises.
What does it say about our society when you can get locked up for exceeding a speed limiton an open road while people who commit real crime get suspended sentences, and why are we so much harsher on speeding here than in some other countries?

Or you own a dog that kills a child and the worst you can expect is a $4k fine?!

Had the 155 been in a school zone, or a built up area, I would have said good that the OP got caught. But on a road where 10 years ago the limit was probbaly 100, and another 20 before that may have been no limit, it's just plain unlucky to be done, IMO, and the punishment is worse than the crime. However, had he hit and killed someone, the punishment wouldn't be enough, so I guess that's why we have these speeding laws, fines and loss of license - to stop us all from possibly killing someone (law of lowest common denominator).

Road Games · 30-08-2011, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sprint347dave

thanks for telling us your story,,but while you still have "FG GT...Supercharged Bliss" im still sencing that you will speed again,,maybe adding some of the pictures that you viewed might help even more with getting people to think twice before they do 155 on a road we all share

Hey mr angel .. can you give me tomorrow nights lotto numbers please so i can buy a faster car?

blk6t · 30-08-2011, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sprint347dave

thanks for telling us your story,,but while you still have "FG GT...Supercharged Bliss" im still sencing that you will speed again,,maybe adding some of the pictures that you viewed might help even more with getting people to think twice before they do 155 on a road we all share

Thanks for your reply, I have since sold my new GT which I have only owned for a couple of months after my wife pleaded, very painful and lost $$$ but I did feel good when it went to a new home. So no I won't ever speed in such a manner ever again. I have permission from my wife to buy a track car when I get my lisence back to ensure my speeding is kept off the roads. I would share some pics but what I saw was traumatic, seeing 5 teenagers being pulled from a wreck is not something I will post online.

hawker · 31-08-2011, 01:00 AM

This is something I'm trying to get through to my girlfriend, how fast she is going to lose her license. She gets narky when I comment about it, with a 'I won't get caught'. The funny thing is, she already has been, doing 50K's over the limit, for some random reason the cop let her off (Can't figure the ACT police out).

The stupidity of speeding, especially like this (I'm not talking about the conditions, going almost 80K's over the limit) is that you're not just going to ruin your life, you're wrecking it for everyone else. If she did lose her license, I would be the one stuffed, for a start, no doubt they'd impound the car (both are technically mine), so I'd be out a car, secondly, we live about 30k's out of Canberra, and she's told me she won't travel on public transport, I basically told her, if she does lose her license, she will be (but it would become hard, as she works rotating shift work). But she'd expect me to drop everything and taxi her everywhere or she'd want to break our lease and move over the road from her work. That's selfish.

Now I'm not saying I don't speed, I speed to overtake, but I still keep a close eye on the speedo and the road in front, and I try and keep overtaking to overtaking lanes, but anyone who has been behind someone doing 90 to 100 (in a 100 zone) over and over again, knows how annoyed you can get. I had to overtake a Holden going 90 tonight (at the overtaking lane), he decided to speed up at that point, I ended up having to do 115 in a 100 zone to get past him and stay in front of him, after the overtaking lane, he then slowed back down to 90 and I never saw him again.

I also don't always agree with the posted speed limit, however, I abide by them, even roadworks, which anyone who lives in or near Canberra knows is dangerous, as many people don't pay attention, and sit on your tail the whole way through then as soon as they can overtake and speed off. But just the other week a P platter lost his license for doing 90 in a 40K roadwork zone (I think it was normally an 80 zone).

Thanks to the op for sharing this story.

I do have one complaint against both the cops and legal system. A lot of them have serious issues with people driving performance vehicles. They have a bias against them, like everyone driving one is automatically a hoon. I think that it's unfair, and something they need to address.

I have a performance vehicle of sorts (a Territory Turbo), so in some eyes I could be classed as a hoon. I've been driving for almost 12 years, I have no speeding fines. I've never even been pulled over (apart from the odd RBT at the side of the road), I am pretty much a boring driver, yet my car must class me as a hoon? (/mini rant).

Vincenzo · 31-08-2011, 01:12 AM

blk6t

Thank you for your posts on this subject - as you said in your original post - if it stops one person from speeding great.

I come to this subject from a different perspective. On boxing day 2010 I picked up my new 2001 AU xr6 from Brisbane. Due to the weather conditions I could not return to Darwin via Central Queensland ( 3 day trip max), so I had to head south to Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide then north to Alice and Darwin (8 day trip).

My whole trip I had used the cruise control with every speed change I had come across. I had not sped once. On day six somewhere between Coober Pedy and Alice Springs I came up behind two road trains travelling about 100 metres apart.

For those on the east coast - between Port Agusta and Darwin road trains are the norm. Imagine a B double with either two or three full size trailers hooked up behind (between 53 metres and 60 metres in length each) and supposedly governed to 90 kmph.

Now, these two R/T's are cruising at 105 kmph (110 kmph limit). Letting them know I was behind, once the road cleared and I could see for the next 5 kilometres I went out and around them. I knew I would be speeding but said to myself it would only be for a short period. I stayed out and once past the second I slowly came back over. My 17 y/o son was absolutely estatic - the speedo was showing in excess of 220 kmph.

My driving experience has been living in the NT for the last 30 years. During this time I spent 15 years as an Ambulance Officer driving under lights and sirens in traffic and on an open highway, 8 years of being a defensive driving instructor and I was shocked at what I had just done. It was the only time I sped on the entire trip and its the only thing my son remembers clearly.

Someone asked blk6t whether or not he would post the pictures he saw - and I for one am glad he chose not to. I left the Service as I had seen and done enough. 13 years on since resigning the flash backs are a constant reminder of what I saw and did. I cannot speak for the rest of Australia but here in the NT speed is not the problem FATIGUE and ALCOHOL are the big killers on our roads.

Were I to be caught by the Police down south I wonder where I would be now - probably somebody's b**** for the next two years - keep that thought in your mind and see if it doesn't slow you down.

cheers to all - Vincenzo

Ben73 · 31-08-2011, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheInterceptor

Yeh im goin agaisnt the grain.
If mr copper wasnt there, you would have pulled back in and slowed back down. Life goes on.

To me its very much an overeaction and ties in with the same old mantra which is a total toss.

Yes people are going to disagree, call me an idiot and whatnot but i dont care, im not a do gooder and i know my limits and my vehicles limits, im not sucked into this speeding garbage.....unlucky that you were caught, very unlucky...

And how can i reserve speed for the track when i drive what i drive? Slower than anything else on the track and higher center of gravity....yeh good thanks.

Least you learnt something...Happy trails.

I agree with this post as well.
Although you should definitely should be punished for breaking the laws, jail time is a bit harsh for first time speeding offense on a quiet country road passing a car.

Fine, loss of license and community service seams fair. Even though most drink drivers and other idiots get off easier then that.

Reading that stuff makes you think. Works as a better deterrent then the government putting up one of there pathetic attempts of an ad.

XR6TCraig · 31-08-2011, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben73

I agree with this post as well.
Although you should definitely should be punished for breaking the laws, jail time is a bit harsh for first time speeding offense on a quiet country road passing a car.

I would go further and say that jail time is much too harsh for speeding full stop.

I am refering to speed on opened roads, not in built up areas, through school zones or through school grounds.

We are talking about a victimless act here, that has been vilified by the whole 'speed kills' campaign, which lets face it, is only about taxing us more of our hard earned.

Now if in control of a car you hurt or kill someone regardless of the speed at which you travel, then perhaps jail should be on the table as a suitable punishment if you are at fault. But for simply pushing a little metal pedal to the floor too far for too long should not mean jail time when there are no consequences from this action other than travelling at a velocity greater than some arbitrary limit imposed by an incompetent government department catering to the lowest denominator.

blk6t · 31-08-2011, 01:49 PM

I agree totally but unfortunatly that's what you could face which IMHO is way too harsh, jail destroys peoples lives.

When I was at the traffic offenders program, one of the speakers goes around to the jails and does a similar program, the reason being is that for the majority of medium to low security jails in NSW, 60% of the inmates are traffic offenders (speeders, DUI's etc), the majority again are first time offenders.

Consider my charge for example "Speed Dangerous to Public", I still consider it to be a stupid charge, any speed can be a danger to the public, but it highlights the extremity that if I hit another vehicle or person, there would be a certaintly of death.

Read the page on my solicitors website and see just how harsh the punishments are especially for first time offenders...

http://www.armstronglegal.com.au/web...nner_Dangerous

It wasn't until i got home after being charged and I looked up my charge soon realising that I was facing jail time.

Its all for deterrance, that's the main reason so when people hear about stories like mine they realise just how heavy the penalities have become and expect them to get alot worse.

GTP owner · 31-08-2011, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blk6t

I agree totally but unfortunatly that's what you could face which IMHO is way too harsh, jail destroys peoples lives.

When I was at the traffic offenders program, one of the speakers goes around to the jails and does a similar program, the reason being is that for the majority of medium to low security jails in NSW, 60% of the inmates are traffic offenders (speeders, DUI's etc), the majority again are first time offenders.

Consider my charge for example "Speed Dangerous to Public", I still consider it to be a stupid charge, any speed can be a danger to the public, but it highlights the extremity that if I hit another vehicle or person, there would be a certaintly of death.

Read the page on my solicitors website and see just how harsh the punishments are especially for first time offenders...

http://www.armstronglegal.com.au/web...nner_Dangerous

It wasn't until i got home after being charged and I looked up my charge soon realising that I was facing jail time.

Its all for deterrance, that's the main reason so when people hear about stories like mine they realise just how heavy the penalities have become and expect them to get alot worse.

So we are paying to keep people in jail for victimless crimes

(Speeding by itself does not have a victim, but if you crash then that is another story). Then add to this issue - does jail time actually deter people from speeding? And by making it a criminal offence, we are creating a life-long stigma for that person. Punishment, but not rehabilitation or education. So if this person was a potential lawyer or doctor, we have just removed them from the workforce. For what? To get tough? To appease a populist political system that deems every km/h over the limit to be equivalent to rape (as evidenced by similar sentencing regimes)? It doesnt make sense to me.

Bunyip04 · 31-08-2011, 09:35 PM

Speeding it may be... But the longer you take to overtake someone is when it starts to get dangerous... And it's not as if you were being an idiot about it, as others have said, the punishment doesn't fit the crime... The fact that you pulled over straight away is a good indicator your not a fool.. Wheris a lot of ppl just play dumb and become a nuisance pretending they didn't know they were there, etc..

And before everyone get's into the "what if's", there's too many...